The Vivo S9 and Vivo S9e were unveiled today in China. The former is the first phone to have MediaTek’s 6nm Dimensity 1100 chipset under the hood while the latter comes with the Dimensity 820. Performance is not the only focus for Vivo’s new phones as both phones have nice cameras too.
Vivo S9 and Vivo S9e Design
Vivo is still one of the few manufacturers that has stuck to notches for most of its mid-range/upper mid-range phones. As you can see, the Vivo S9 has a wide notch that holds two cameras while the Vivo S9e sticks to a waterdrop notch for its selfie camera.
On the back, the two phones pack rear cameras arranged in a similar fashion and placed in a raised housing. The Vivo S9 series reminds us of the iPhone 12 series with its straight edge frames. Vivo claims the S9 is its thinnest 5G phone ever with a thickness of just 7.35mm. It is also pretty light at 173 grams. The two phones are available in three colors each.
Vivo S9 specifications
The Vivo S9 has a 6.44-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch sampling rate. The display has a TÜV Rheinland Eye Comfort Certification, an SGS Seamless certification, and HDR10+.
The 6nm Dimensity 1100 clocked at 2.6GHz is paired with 8GB/12GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. There is no support for storage expansion.
There are three cameras on the back of the Vivo S9. The primary camera is a 64MP sensor with OIS and it comes along with an 8MP ultrawide angle camera and a 2MP macro camera. There are two selfie cameras – a 44MP primary sensor with autofocus and an 8MP ultrawide angle camera with a portrait lens for wide-angle selfies. There are also two soft lights in front for illumination when you take selfies in low-light environments.
As expected of Vivo, there are some interesting camera features bundled with the Vivo S9. There is an AI brightening and AI noise reduction feature that helps brightens and enhances facial features in low-light environments. There is also a 3D five-fold super texture beauty mode that adds 3D face highlighting and contouring and a handful of other enhancements to selfie photos. The Vivo S9 also has a VLOG mode and double exposure mode.
Vivo says the new phone has an ultra-thin VC cooling plate that is 12.5% thinner than a traditional cooling plate. It also covers a 30% larger cooling area (136% overall) compared to the previous generation.
The Vivo S9 has a 4000mAh battery capacity with support for 33W fast charging. The phone has NFC, Bluetooth 5.2, dual SIM support, an in-display fingerprint scanner, and face unlock. It runs OriginOS 1.0 based on Android 11 out of the box.
Vivo S9e specifications
The Vivo S9e is a more affordable model with some tradeoffs in certain areas. The Samsung OLED panel has a 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10, and also has TÜV Rheinland’ Eye Comfort Certification and SGS Seamless certification.
Vivo has swapped the Dimensity 1100 for the Dimensity 820 and it is paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage. You also get a 64MP main rear camera but there is no OIS. The other two cameras are a 120° ultrawide angle camera and a 4CM macro camera. A single 32MP sensor is in front for selfies.
There is a 4100mAh battery inside the phone with support for 33W fast charging. It also runs OriginOS 1.0 based on Android 11 out of the box.
Price and Availability
The Vivo S9 is priced at ¥2999 for the 8+128GB version and ¥3299 for the 12+256GB version. Pre-orders are live now ahead of the first sale on March 12.
The Vivo S9e is ¥2399 for the 8+128GB version and ¥2699 for the 8+256GB version. Pre-orders will begin much later on March 22 and then it will go on sale on March 27.
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